On September 8-10, 144 of the top team racers in the US will descend on Mission Bay Yacht Club for the 2023 AeroVanti Yacht Club U.S. Team Racing Championship. Past event winners, ICSA Team Racing national champions, ICSA All Americans, and other accomplished team racers will battle for the George R. Hinman Trophy at US Sailing’s largest adult championship.
“Mission Bay Yacht Club is thrilled to host the 2023 Hinman and is ready to put on three solid days of top-quality competition and shoreside fun,” said John Fretwell, Event Chair at MBYC. “Thirty CFJs, new sails, and US Sailing’s excellent Judges should make for fast-paced flights; with the AeroVanti Yacht Club and Goslings’ sponsorships helping ensure fun after racing, like our Jamaican Beach Party with live music on Saturday night.”
2022 Hinman Champions Shawn Harvey, Sonia Lingos Utley, Teddy and Graceann Nicolosi, Sean Segerblom, and Caroline Teare are back as team Rock City Cruising Club, looking for another win over 2019 and 2021 winners Holiday Sideshow (Griener Hobbs, Marlena Fauer, Ian Barrows, Michaela Obrien, Graham Landy and Chris Klevan).
Also on the roster is team Los Huevos, whose skippers Justin Callahan, Mitchell Callahan, and Lachlain McGranahan lead Harvard to a win at the 2023 ICSA Team Race National Championship last spring.
First held in 1981, the U.S. Team Racing Championship for the George R. Hinman trophy remains one of the largest and most anticipated annual sailing championships of the season.
The trophy was donated in recognition of George R. Hinman’s many years of service and contributions to yachting. Hinman was an accomplished sailor who was at the forefront of one design sailing as well as having a part in the America’s Cup in various capacities as helmsman, syndicate manager and chairman of the America’s Cup (selection) Committee.
The event will be run in the Swiss League format. Learn more about the format here: https://wilsontrophy.co.uk/swiss-league/
As part of the event festivities, sailors 21 and older will be able to vote in the Rhumb Line Awards finals. The Awards, presented by Goslings Rum, pits house drinks from yacht clubs across the US to determine whose Goslings creation is the victor. Sailors will try the two finalists – the Ivaloo Special and the Jood Jibes – and vote to decide the winner, which will be announced by Goslings on Saturday at the event.
Follow the action from the weekend on the US Sailing Facebook and Instagram. Scores will populate here during the event. US Sailing would like to thank title sponsor AeroVanti Yacht Club, and national sponsors Gill Marine and Goslings Rum, as well as host club Mission Bay Yacht Club for their support of the event.